Two topless activists from the self-proclaimed “sextremist” group Femen were violently dragged away from a Paris-area stage after after storming an Islamic conference on women and religion.
Video footage shows two topless women race onto the stage as two Imams were addressing a crowd on Saturday afternoon in the Pontoise district near Paris.
The women, reportedly of Algerian and Tunisian origin, had anti-Muslim slogans written on their chest, which read: “No one will submit me, I am my own prophet”.
The same message was shouted to the audience members as the perplexed Imams looked on.
The reaction to the incident witnessed up to 15 people, including security guards, roughly yank the women off stage, with some of the beefy men landing kicks and slaps on the pair.
According to the site Buzzfeed France, one of the women had been punched several times in the aftermath of the incident.
Police intervened to lead the two women away.
Meanwhile, the founder of the group, Inna Shevchenko, defended the pair’s actions and vilified the purpose of the event.
“The two Imams were in the process of discussing whether or not you should beat your wife,” said Shevchenko, explaining the reason the two women chose to act then.
Shevchenko, who was at the event later, tweeted: “Femmophobia is illegal, sexism is racism and modern slavery is a crime”.